Description

Runnyeye Citadel used to be the underground home of the Runnyeye clan
of Goblins. Their tunnels wind their way through the hills, carving deeper
and deeper down into the depths. Recently, however, the Pickclaw goblin
tribe has moved into and taken over the area, making prisoners of Clan
Runnyeye and their once leaders, the Evil Eyes.

Dangers

This dungeon is one of the most confusing and twisted of all the dungeons.
Travelling through it requires a good sense of direction, because the
tunnel weaves and splits at many points throughout its journey. The upper
level is fairly straightforward, and inhabited by the lower level goblins
of the Citadel, including the occasional goblin worker, and are relatively
safe for the lower level adventurer.

Lower down the dungeon becomes even more confusing, as many rooms have
multiple intersections with other rooms in the area, making it hard to
find your way to a point or away from a particularly nasty critter. Few
people travel deep into this dungeon without a strong group backing them
up.

The inhabitants of the lower levels also make the area difficult to adventure
in. The Pickclaw goblins must spend a great deal of their time training
spellcasters among their ranks, since more than half of the monsters that
you will encounter deep down are some sort of shaman, with the occasional
wizard thrown in. Add this to the fact that they are only rarely found
by themselves, more commonly in groups of 3 or 4, make this area that
much more dangerous, and practically mandate hunting with a group.

The most dangerous feature of the dungeon is, however, the evil eyes.
They are regularly found in the lower levels in various rooms, and can
be heard because they make a sick, sticky sound as their eye opens and
closes. They are much higher level than the local goblins, as well, so
you must keep your eyes peeled when hunting goblins that one of these
doesn't appear, because it's a long way to the top. Probably the most
dangerous behavior these creatures exhibit, however, is that they will
occasionally wander all the way to the top. I believe this happens when
they are trained up there from below, but they might well do this on their
own. For the lower level characters at the top of the dungeon, they are
very lethal. With only one spell, one of them killed my fully healed 10th
level ranger as he fled to the exit. If you ever see "Evil eye begins
to cast a spell." in your chat window, my advice is to zone and zone
fast.

Benefits

This zone is blessed with an abundance of goblins, which are separated
quite well by level between the various levels. The lower level goblins
(7th and 8th) live on the upper level and stay there, wandering back and
forth, and are usually not in groups so can be solo'ed well. The higher
level goblins are in the second level, and usually come in groups. This
means that they must be hunted in groups, but are separated into their
own rooms and so the pulls are fairly predictable. I've never seen a train
in Runnyeye like you would see in Blackburrow or some of the other places.

There are also some neat items that can be found in this dungeon. The
throne room area has monsters that possess Blackened Alloy Armor, which
adds to stats, depending on the piece that you get, and looks very cool.
Blackened Iron and Blackened Alloy Armor are all pretty much random drops
off of creatures here (the Blackened Alloy coming off of higher level
ones) Also, the evil eyes are a big draw to this area, and the evil eye
that spawns the lens for the Staff of the Observer lives in this zone.

Also, there is a bank in Runnyeye. Yes, a bank. You can go there, change
in coppers, and go hunting some more, although you have to be at least
level 30 so they are non-aggressive to you. Add to that the local merchants,
which sell food and other items, and you could stay here for a while.
Very cool...

Travelling To and From
Runnyeye Citadel

There are two entrances to Runneye, both of which are fairly close to
one another. The first entrance from Misty Thicket includes a long, relatively
safe, tunnel into the zone. Only very rarely do goblins venture down this
path.

Keeping directly to the right will take you quickly to the entrance to
the Gorge of King Xorbb, which is readily identifiable by the stakes with
the human heads and the large "Keep Out" written in blood on
the wall opposite the entrance. This is a very quick escape from trains
who may happen to be following you from the second level...